as I live a few more questions

OK! Five more and then I'll start writing...I promise!!

Five more illustrations for future chapters of Second Chances, and *then* I'll start writing Chapter 14! I can stop ANYTIME I want! ;-) Click on the pictures for a link to their flickr pages, where you can get larger/smaller sizes. there are larger versions of the last three pictures.

This is how I picture Lureen and LaShawn. Of course, with all the stress she's under, Lureen is chain-smoking to beat the band :-)

"Lureen took another drag of her cigarette, and frowned. She thought: This man desperately needs to have his ass kicked."

"How did Ziggy really see her? What did she mean to him?"

Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Ziggy sitting on a couch near the dancefloor. She had to suppress an urge to giggle at the sight of him, a fully-grown man in a tuxedo, in full-pout mode as she danced with the handsome stranger. So he does care, she thought."

"Why the fuck didn't you tell me, Lureen!?"

Second Chances: Illustrations for a Future Chapter.

I know that some of you are waiting for more chapters of Second Chances, my contribution to  Madlori's Human Interest/Two Crows Joy alternative universe.  I've been letting things percolate while I focus on Second Life, and here's something to tide you over: a couple of illustrations for a future chapter of Second Chances, when Karen, Jean-Guy and Jacqui visit Brokeback Ranch.  Click on the picture for the link to its flickr page and to see the images
full-size.

More info on Second Chances here.

Brokeback Mountain on Second Life

Here are some results of my playing around with Brokeback Mountain characters (both "canon" and alternative-universe) within the wildly creative world of Second Life.  I have discovered that this is the perfect way to illustrate the work of so many slash fiction writers!  All illustrations are covered under Creative Commons; click for larger sizes.

Jack and Ennis at Brokeback Ranch (in the slash fiction alternative-universe Brokeback Mountain, written by the ever-talented MadLori): 1. Human Interest (story complete): http://www.fanfiction.net/s/2759902/1/Human_Interest 2. Two Crows Joy (sequel to Human Interest, story continuing) http://www.fanfiction.net/s/2841251/1/Two_Crows_Joy

Jack and Ennis Ride by a Rusty Old Locomotive (this is more Wyoming than Vermont...maybe Kansas? ;-)

Jack Twist's blue truck, from the "canon"/film version, it's from around the time he drives up to see Ennis when he gets the news that Ennis is getting a divorce.

Jack Twist: "I doubt there's a filly that can throw me."

Jack Twist and Ennis Del Mar in Ma Twist's parlour in Lightning Flat.

Ennis looks fondly at his Jack

The Kiss: Jack Twist and Ennis Del Mar

Making Jack Twist in Second Life: A New Possibility for Brokeback Mountain Fanart and Illustrating BBM Fan Fiction.

I've been percolating the idea for some time now to combine my love of Brokeback Mountain slash fiction with my  enjoyment of the virtual reality of Second Life (SL).  So this weekend I worked on creating a Second Life avatar (i.e. in-world character) based on Jack Twist, as played by Jake Gyllenhaal.

It was actually fairly easy to do (well, OK, maybe not so easy for the average SL newcomer who may still be wandering around bumping into things...estimates are that as many as 90% of people who join SL eventually give up due the steep learning curve).  First step was to create a "blank" avatar and outfit him with modifiable (tintable, etc.) skin.  Second Step was selecting a suitable full-face "passport photo" of Jake Gyllenhaal from iheartjackmedia.com Then I trotted said avatar over to a place called Avatar Island and went through the (relatively) simple process of creating a "face tattoo" which the blank avatar will wear:

You can preview the created head tattoo in 3D, rotating in order to see all its angels before committing to have it made:

Once we have our face, we need to add realistic-looking cerulean blue eyes, which means a SL shopping trip :-) I picked out this highly photo-realistic pair from Skye Eyes:

Now comes the hardest part: tweaking the innumerable parameters to make the face look more like Jake Gyllenhaal's. This is painstaking work which took me quite some time, and much tweaking of various features, length of nose, width of eyes, etc. etc.:

Now we have our Jake head, which I think compares favourably with the original :-)

Now, stick on some hair and presto!  Jake Gyllenhaal, the actor who played Jack Twist in the movie Brokeback Mountain:




But of course, we can't stop there!  It's time to shop for some clothing and a black cowboy hat...


Hmm, maybe that hat is a little TOO big.  Good thing we can adjust it to fit. 

And we follow the same process outlined above for Ennis Del Mar.  This avatar still needs some tweaking (I still think that the face is a little too narrow; the avatar looks okay only from certain angles):



But don't stop at clothing, there is the ultimate cowboy necessity: horses.  The horses from McLean Ranch in Second Life are the ultimate in realism and animation, so I gifted both Jack and Ennis with stallions. I mean, what good are cowboys without horses?


And I now have "actors" who can (with a little PhotoShopping) "act" out scenes from just about any Brokeback Mountain fantasy you can think of.  Jack and Ennis as corporate lawyers?  Jack and Ennis as astronauts?  Pirates?  Priests?  Scottish farmers?  Any slash fiction you can come up with, can be recreated in 3D.  It can be done!  Here are a few sample "photos" (note that we can also do video on SL, which is called "machinima").

Coming Soon: Breakfast At Tiffany's II

Yes, we're already at the point where we can re-animate dead actors and put them into films using digital 2D-to-3D rendering techniques.  Check out the video:

I just thought this was very, very cool.  Someday soon, doctored videos will become as popular as airbrushed (or otherwise digitally manipulated) pictures.  These sort of animation advances are already having an effect on Hollywood, replacing the often-tedious motion capture of previous years.  And this second video gives you proof of how far the technology is taking film and TV right now (New York Times video, you have to sit through a commercial first, but the wait is worth it).

Using Live Trace in Illustrator

Playing around with the Live Trace tool on Adobe Illustrator CS2, and coming up with some Andy-Warholesque art:

Flickr Mosaic: Crayonbox

Flickr Mosaic: Crayonbox
Originally uploaded by jbum.

This is one of my favourite images from flickr, a mosaic of items submitted to the group photo pool "Crayon Box". I love it because it's so vibrant and cheerful.

Drawing again

Pulled out my digital tablet and pen today to work on a birthday greeting for Kallese, only to find my pen wasn't working. I finally figured out what the problem was (something about image import into ArtRage, but I finally got everything worked out, and (with a little PhotoShopping for the burlap effect) is Burlap Seaboy.

It feels really good to be drawing, even if it's not a Goya or da Vinci. I'm starting to get the feeling for it back. And I'm enjoying it.

Deviant Art

Well, after the recent (and ongoing) kerfuffle over non-photos posted to flickr.com, I decided to explore deviantart.com. To the left is a sample from my new deviantart portfolio; click on it for the full page image.

Resurrecting my art

drawing an angel
Originally uploaded by Quiplash.

I used to draw all the time as a child, but somewhere along the way I dropped it. I guess my practical streak told me that I was never going to be able to make a living as an artist, and I would be living in someone's attic subsisting on peanut butter until I was "discovered".

And so I let it languish.

This week I bought a graphics tablet for my PC, and I am slowly becoming comfortable with it. I use the excellent freeware software ArtRage, plus an old copy of PhotoShop 5.5, in my work.